Growth
by aromatisse
Summary: She should have expected him to be more grown up at this stage. {pokespe, slight mangaquestshipping}


Emerald woke up, shuffling around in the comfy bed. He stared up at the star paintings over him, slowly getting up. A falling leaf from outside caight his eye, and he walked over to look out the window. A vast warm colored scenery greeted him. He never got to experience autumns like this in the tropical Hoenn. Recently, Crystal and her mother moved to Newbark town to help with professor Elm and his studies. She asked the younger boy to come along, and having little options on where else to go, he agreed. He liked her company, anyway.

Getting dressed, he trailed downstairs to the lower floor where he smelled the warm scent of honey. Crystal's mom turned around, a big grin on her face when she saw him. She'd been more than accepting when Crystal announced that he'd be staying with them for a while, seeing as "it was about time for another kid to be in this house." She was a bit unorthodox for the 'typical' mom, but she was happy and playful and nice. She treated him like one of his one, which wasn't something that could be said for other adults that he'd known. Besides, they did kind of look alike - enough to almost trick him into thinking that she was his own mom.

Almost.

* * *

After breakfast, Emerald threw on a jacket and trailed into Route 29, where Crystal was most likely to be. He was right, as he saw her trademark fluffy hat and blue overalls that her mother had gotten her a few weeks back. Approaching her, she lifted her head and gave him a friendly smile.

"Hi, Rald. Sleep well?"

"Yeah, I think so." he responded, taking a seat on a stump. Emerald paused, looking over the surrounding areas. Almost all the trees had some sort of red yellow variety on it. Crystal was crouched down on the ground, her Arcanine and Cubone next to her. She was observing her pokenav, Arcanine sniffing the ground, Cubone posing ready. "What're you doing?"

"Due to the cold weather, more hordes have been coming through the areas. With hordes, it's more likely to see a shiny pokemon - we really kind of need to study them more." She responded, not taking her eyes off the pokenav.

Emerald nodded in response, settling down on the stump. On cue, a rustling came from a near bye bush. All four looked up. Bonee raised his club and Archy reared. As Crystal got to her feet, the rustling grew louder and a goggle-clad boy popped out with a muffled "_Umph_!" and fell out on the dirt path. Looking up, a sheepish smile came over his face. "Hey."

"Gold? What are you doing?" Crystal asked. Her eyes narrowed. "Were you _spying_ on us?"

"What? No! I was trying to catch a Skarmory around here." He retaliated, obvious offense in his voice. "Although I bet you would probably _want_ me to spy on you,"

"What?" she responded, genuinely confused. She then sighed, putting her hands on her hips. "Nevermind. You probably scared away all the pokemon, anyways."

"Not my fault. Every pokemon should be scared of me, I have so much skill and strength to match." He chided playfully, beaming. Crystal rolled her eyes. Gold walked over to Emerald, probably wanting to take a seat next to him. Crystal stared blankly.

"What are you doing?"

"Oh, me?" he turned to her. "Just taking a seat."

"I don't need an audience. I invited Emerald here, not you. Go away." She responded curtly, crouching back to the Pokenav. Achy and Bonee went back to their previous positions.

"Wow! Rude. I don't need this negativity. I have Silver to talk with, anyways. See ya, Rald." Gold said, sticking his nose up, getting out his skateboard and pushing himself down the path. Emerald watched his retreating form. He then started to pity Silver.

* * *

Emerald took a sip of tea, seated in the barren lab all except for his seniors. Professor Elm had went on a trip to Sinnoh to briefly study evolutions to the native pokemon in Johto. Crystal was typing on a computer. Gold invited himself in about a half hour ago, playing with a yoyo. (It had apparently been a strict No-Gold kind of day for Silver.) Emerald's Sceptile was curled up below the table, watching the clock hands tick away. Eventually, he turned towards his trainer, an apathetic expression on his face. Emerald stroked him on his scaly head.

Gold, who had previously been trying his best to actually play with the yoyo the correct way, looked up at the two, an unreadable expression on his face. Gold gestured to him if he wanted the yoyo. He shook his head. Gold paused for a few seconds, then got up. After five minutes or so, he came back with a colorful little box in his left hand. He handed it to the younger boy.

"It's a Rubix Cube. It's a puzzle. You try to get all the sides the same color. I, uh, really enjoyed toying around with it as a kid." Gold smiled down at him, a warm and friendly look on his face, but not exactly playful in the 'Gold' sort of way.

Emerald decided he liked this side of Gold well enough.

* * *

Crystal walked on the edge of a path, hearing leaves crumple beneath her feet. The weather was getting colder and shivered as the wind nipped beneath her coat. Gold was besides her, breathing bursts of smoke into the chilly air. For once in possibly all the time that she knew him, Gold had not said a word since they arrived at the park, which was almost 20 minutes ago. Crystal was wondering if he was ok.

"Hey, Gold? Why are we here?"

"Mh? Sorry, Kris, got lost in thought."

"I mean, why'd you take me here?" she asked.

"Oh!" he scratched his nose. "Well, two friends can take a regular old peaceful walk, can't they? We are friends, right?"

She snorted and let out a "Yes," just to humor him. He in turn beamed.

"Plus, you're spending way too much time in that lab. You're becoming a bit too uptight. Hey, I'm just a friend looking out for you."

Crystal groaned and put her head in her hands. "You ruined it."

Gold payed no attention and kept walking. He let out a friendly whistle and shouted a greeting. Thinking it was Silver or Rald or any of their seniors, she lifted her head. Instead, she let out a gasp and took a step back. Suicune was laying comfortably below a nearly bare tree, head lifting to watch the two approaching teens. It's mane flowed gracefully in the wind, stray leaves avoiding it's presence. Gold trotted over to it like an old friend. Suicune surprisingly didn't move away from the his ruckus. Gold knelled and scratched it's chin.

"Hey, buddy! Been a while!"

Crystal was awestruck. "Gold! Wait - what- how?"

Gold tutted and shook his head. "See? Too uptight. We already kind of caught them, remember. Plus, I rode on the back of a thunder beast. I'm not scared of anything, now." Suicune moved away from Gold and faced Kris, wearing an expression similar to an older family member who wanted a hug.

Crystal, shaking, approached the beast. Suicune got up and directly came to her. Crystal reached and stroke its head. Suicune's eyes shut peacefully. They continued this in silence, with Gold watching, until Suicune turned away and trotted, then ran, as quickly as the wind. Then all traces of the legendary were gone.

Crystal blinked, a sense of security coming over her. Taking this as the end of their walk, Gold walked the opposite way which they originally came. Crystal followed. Gold began to speak.

"I want to be a little less wild in the future. You know, just a bit."

* * *

Emerald watched his breath turn into clouds. He was sitting on a bench in Amity Park, kids in sweatshirts and light coats playing with their pokemon. As the evening got closer, he watched the numbers thin out until he was pretty sure he was the last one remaining.

Until, that is, he saw a tall red haired boy trail through the park. He didn't seem angry or upset or stressed or anything like that, in fact, he looked the calmest Emerald had ever saw him. It made sense, actually, that Silver would have one place to unwind every day. Silver started coming towards him, and Emerald half-ducked, not wanting Silver to get the impression he was staring at him or anything.

Instead, Silver just sat next to him. Emerald tried his best not to look at him, and the other boy seemed to take almost no interest in him. Both boys sat on the bench, smokey breath coming from each of them, silence surrounding the two. Emerald began to enjoy the silence.

* * *

This wasn't the first time Gold piggy backed Emerald, nor did he think it would be the last.

Silver texted him through pokenav of the boy's location, just as a heads up. When he arrived at the park, Silver was gone and Emerald was asleep. A jacket that was unfamiliar (though, Gold could piece together who's it was) was thrown over the boy. Emerald's Sceptile sat next to the bench, who stiffened at the crunching leaves, but relaxed when he saw who it was. Gold scratched him under the chin and returned him to an empty pokeball on Emerald's lap. Positioning the jacket so it fit Emerald, he gently hoisted Emerald on his back. It probably would have been easier to have Sceptile carry him, but whatever. It would probably be a gentler ride if a person carried him. He looked over at the sleeping kid, a warm feeling pooling in his stomach.

Emerald kind of reminded Gold of both his fellow dex holders combined, though he couldn't really place why. He remembered learning that both himself and Crystal didn't have a dad, and tried to recall his specific thoughts when he found out the Silver's dad was still alive - and more importantly, who it was. A sudden pang of sadness came over him when he realized that Rald wouldn't have that gratification given to him.

He then started to wonder what it would be like to grow up without a mom.

* * *

Crystal sighed in relief as she swept this last room in the lab. Elm was coming back the next day, and unorganized as the man could be, she was a woman of composition, and would not allow him to come back to a dump. Unfortunately, Elm left the lab cluttered when he left, and Crystal felt like it was her responsibility to avoid a near accident in the lab in the future. She called on Rald to help her, seeing as asking Gold would be as productive as inviting a bomb in here. She looked over at the blonde, who was clearing out some boxes. He was hovering over a book that looked like it was at the end of it's run. She approached him out of pure curiosity.

She noticed it was an old photo album. There were a few pictures of fossils and new discoveries, but it was mainly happy pictures of children and pokemon. Feeling her over him, Emerald closed the book and apologized.

"It's okay. We're pretty much done, anyway." She glanced over the organized lab just to double check. "You want something to eat?"

"You don't have to do that."

"It's fine. I still have energy, you know."

He smiled up at her. "Didn't doubt ya."

She smiled back. "Just wash your hands first," punching him gently on the shoulder.

Emerald rolled his eyes and brushed past. "Okay, _mom_." Crystal knew he was joking, but felt a funny feeling surge through her nonetheless.

* * *

Gold shuffled on his feet next to Crystal. The arranged a "friend" date (although Gold would like it to be just a date, and Crystal wouldn't even use the word date) in Olivine. It was actually surprisingly warm, probably the last warm day of the year. The walked along the beach through the markets and eventually up the lighthouse. They were staring over the pre-sunset, the sun just starting to travel down. The rays were reflecting off the sea and trees, giving everything a red hue.

"Nice day, huh?" Gold said, feeling lame.

"Yeah, it's so pretty, and humid as well. It's all down hill from now, though." She paused to clear her throat. "Emerald's probably going to go back to Hoenn during the winter. And honestly, I'm tempted to join him."

"I know," he replied, "Hoenn's hot even when it's cold."

They stood there in silence for a few minutes.

"Gold?"

"Mhm?" he responded, looking at the side of her face, she just took her hat off.

"Thanks for everything you do with Rald."

He almost dropped his pokedex over the railing, and he was glad he didn't, as that would really ruin the mood.

"What?" he asked, genuinely confused. "I don't do anything really different around him."

She shook her head. 'I'm not sure you're aware of it, but you seem to be mature around Emerald. Nicer, and even calmer too."

He put his hand on the back of his head. "Well, I really do try my best. I don't want him to be a bad kid, you know?"

"I know." she smiled, eyes closing. And another peaceful silence came over them.

"In all honesty, I think you're better with him." he offered.

"That's because I knew him longer." she countered.

Gold nodded his head. "That's true." Pause. "Uh, don't take this the wrong way, but Rald's kind of practice, in a way. We were raised by single parents and we had no siblings. I never knew that taking care of a human kid could be, I don't know, uh, nice feeling?"

"I know what you mean." Crystal said softly. "Emerald's kind of easy, in a way, because he's only a few years younger than us. He does seem to give off an innocent vibe, though." she shook her head, laughing a bit. "I don't want to say size. He would maul us if he was here."

Gold laughed in response. "Nah, you're good. He's old enough so we don't have to teach him everything. But we still have to teach him a lot. I don't think he really had that innocence I had, as a kid."

"Well, I think he has the perfect teacher." Crystal replied.

Gold felt a wave of happiness sweep through him. He didn't know if that was a backhand remark or not, but he felt happy nonetheless. "Thanks," he breathed out. He looked towards the sun, which had a meadow of warm tinted clouds surrounding it. "I hope I can pass that on to my own kid, as well."

"Oh, I think you'll be a great dad, Gold."

"And how do you know?" She grinned at this, reaching for his hand and squeezing his fingers gently.

"Well, you are the certified breeder, after all."


End file.
